


Stars and Stones

by Captain_Trout



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher, XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action, Characters from other games anime etc used as visual/personality refferences plus jokes, Comedy, Gen, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Seriously so many shout outs, Shout Outs, Work In Progress, XCOM Experience not required, set in 2015
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-01-15 13:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21254081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Trout/pseuds/Captain_Trout
Summary: A crossover between the excellent Dresden Files and XCOM:EW."Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur C Clarke.From my teenage years, I thought I knew the answer to that question. I knew of many different Non-Human factions, had survived an otherworldly demon, and have a freaking Faerie godmother.What I never thought of, was asking the question with all the paranormal factions on this messily little speck of dust we call home, are We Alone?I learned the answer to that question was different than I knew, while eating a Whopper with Cheese ™.And now the Burger King was on fire, and it was my fault.The now immolated alien in front of me was the ignition point, though I might have overcooked him in my anger.Tl;dr Harry and some new heavily armed friends vs Alien Invasion.





	1. Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> Will try to write so understandable to people who have not played the game. Includes Enemy Within, nods to XCOM2, and is Post Skin Game. Spoilers galore. 
> 
> All copyrighted material is owned by Jim Butcher and Firaxis Games, or their respective owners. Characters from other content will be used for known personalities/visuals and lolz. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, protected by satire, or with their permission. I make no profit except internet points and a good feeling. Please criticize and help me get better. This is my first Fic. Period. Wish me luck. 
> 
> Thank you to the Beta’s who made this possible/readable: Dresden22, Ellfangor8, and Leahm_Grove. Thank you to BirdOfHermes who inspired me to make the leap and write this. I am in your debt. I owe each of you a Favor.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Burger King was on fire and it was my fault.

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur C Clarke.

From my teenage years, I thought I knew the answer to that question. I knew of many different Non-Human factions, had survived an otherworldly demon, and have a freaking Faerie godmother.

What I never thought of, was asking the question with all the paranormal factions on this messily little speck of dust we call home, are We Alone?

I learned the answer to that question was different than I knew, while eating a Whopper with Cheese ™.

And now the Burger King was on fire, and it was my fault. 

The now immolated alien in front of me was the ignition point, though I might have overcooked him in my anger. (Him? Her? I didn't see any danglies, but I was too pissed off to care. My GED didn't cover the finer points of the english language anyway.)

What? They invaded the Burger King I was in on Date night. No way in hell they were getting away with that.

My date lowered her pistol as she edged around the opposite side of the door. 

"Damn Dresden, I thought you liked your meat medium, not well done"

"That was a long time ago at that picnic. Mantle likes it a little more on rare side, so I'm down to medium-rare." I quipped back as I surveyed the damage. 

Five of them. Two taken out by center mass shots by Murph, and two going from well done to overcooked as they sizzled behind the melted registers. I say center-mass, but with how big their heads were, headshots counted. The last one was the odd duck out. There had been a visible purple energy flowing between one that Murphy shot through their oddly gold mirrored eye, and after the bullet met melon, the second one had dropped where it took cover. That energy had been Wrong. It made my skin crawl and me want to vomit after throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom.

The fire alarm had screeched and died along with most of the fluorescent lights with that blast of flame. Most of the few civilians and employees around at this time of night had tried to clear out or go into the freezer when the pods had landed. Most made it. Some hadn't. The pods had started releasing what I thought was a freakin Mind Fog. They fell where they landed. We immediately put down the whoppers, got close, and chalked a quick circle around us. When it started going straight through the Circle like it wasnt there, I had panicked and blew it clear with a quickly sputtered  _ Ventas. _ With the fog went all the glass in the building. Oops.

The emergency extinguishers got triggered by the heat of the rising blaze and doused the whole back of the BK in a white foam. Thank goodness for cheap low tech solutions. 

After pausing to Listen for any more movement, Murphy and I snapped into action after that, without saying a word. There was no need to, we've done this song and dance way to many times. I don't know what it says about us that we aren't fazed by an alien invasion. . . Alien. They looked like a Roswell Grey. 'Alien' fit. Though svartalves did look a little similarly, with the same skin color and lack of hair on Male svartalves, it was still like comparing a human and a rabid ape. Gold mirrored eyes, too long limbs, a scuttling motion like an apes rolling gait, no visible mouth or nose, and a bulbous beer gut on an otherwise anorexic body.

Murphy checked for pulses and we dragged the unconscious people away from the still smoldering areas. After that was done, she finally spoke.

"What were those? They left a corpse so are they Fae then? My steel jacketed rounds didn’t cause them to burn like most things from the Nevernever though. I've ever heard you mention any creatures that could throw green energy like that." 

After a hesitant breath, I responded, "definitely not from the Nevernever . . . Maybe some can, but they weren't 'throwing' it. They were shooting it."

"Wait, those weren't Faerie? What then? Formor? I know they have an aquatic equivalent to guns." 

"Nope. . . Murph, I don't think they are from my neck of the woods"

She stood stock still at that, and slowly turned to look directly at my nose, closest we could to looking directly in the eye without a soul gaze triggering. 

Slowly and precisely, and with I dare say hesitation, she asked me precisely, "Harry, what do you think they were?"

I blew out a breath I hadn't known I was holding, and replied.

"Karrin, I think we just had a close encounter of the third kind."

It would have probably been a good couple minutes of silence after that bomb of a statement, if we hadn't then heard the crinkle of a step on broken glass. 

We whipped around, Murph raising her Sig back up to shooter's stance, and I shook my shield bracelet back out on my left as my right raised my blasting rod. 

We were met with an authoritative female voice tinged with a NYC accent, "Drop your weapons!" while a deep male baritone voice called over a radio "Two armed civilians found in AO, one pistol, one. . . Stick?

Coming in through the blown out front doors, two soldiers came in, shotgun and rifle up and at the ready, but not pointing at us directly. Murphy immediately drop her gun to her side, and I did the same with my rod. Two other soldiers could be seen stacking up on the door frame, a rifleman and one woman with a sniper rifle as long as she was tall I swear, again weapons up and at the ready.

This was Chicago, not Baghdad. What the hell were heavily armed professional soldiers doing ready to move and oh so twitchy, in freaking Chicago??? Then I noticed their eyes, and how they weren't, "Oh my god, aliens!?". It was more the "I've just entered a Dangerous combat situation" Twitch. The rifleman on the door was also glancing at us with a "How are you alive right now!?" look. Patent pending.

The big black man with the giant belt-fed machine gun that was obviously in charge had a name strip that read "Kohle", addressed us while the asian-caucasian New Yorker with the shotgun and a near feral grin kept a watch and ready stance. Heavy body armor covered him, lighter ballistic plate on her in strategic areas, both of their gear looked state of the art to my untrained eye. What really caught my attention was the South African flag on the back of him, just below the collar. She had the Stars and Stripes in the same spot, so I didn't think we were about to play a part in a weird high budget Red Dawn 2: Electric Boogaloo. The last important detail was the patch on each of their arms. A pentagonal shield, with a diagonal cross through it. 2 circle concentric on the cross, 3 stars above them. None of this meant anything to me at that moment, before I read the Latin on top of it. " _ Vigilo, Confido" _ , which in my correspondence course Latin meant Watch and Trust. Interesting. 

**To be continued**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday Harry!


	2. Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The action continues
> 
> Harry makes new friends and does stupid things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to write so understandable to people who have not played the game. Includes Enemy Within, nods to XCOM2, and is Post Skin Game. Spoilers galore. 
> 
> All copyrighted material is owned by Jim Butcher and Firaxis Games, or their respective owners. Characters from other content will be used for known personalities/visuals and lolz. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, protected by satire, or with their permission. I make no profit except internet points and a good feeling. Please criticize and help me get better. This is my first Fic. Period. Wish me luck. 
> 
> Thank you to the Beta’s who made this possible/readable: Dresden22, Ellfangor8, and Leahm_Grove. I am in your debt. I owe each of you a Favor.

"Rock, Revy, search and destroy. Let me know if you find any MELD canisters. Zero, overwatch." Kohle quickly snapped out before looking back to us. A "You got it Dutch" from the woman by us, was joined by a asian accented "Yes Sir" and a quiet "Understood". He switched to a quieter more empathetic tone and asked "Are you two alright? How many casualties?"

As the woman by us and rifleman, who had a South Korean flag on his back, moved to go around the building, Murph responded immediately. Her cop background snapping into action to give a sitrep. "No wounds beyond some bruises, civilians knocked out by gas, still have regular pulse. Five -" she paused at that, brain catching up and trying to find the right word. "- Hostiles eliminated. Two shot by me, two incinerated by the wizard. The fifth. . . Dropped after I eliminated my second hostile." The hesitation had returned for a second in confusion again. 

"Impressive shooting ma'am, you a veteran?" He asked absently. I could see his appraisal of her rising after that quick reaction and the marksmanship evident on the bodies. "Was there any glowing purple energy traveling between the one you shot and the one that dropped?" 

"Cop" Murphy's breath hitched. "Retired". Even years later it still hurt her. "And there was. Not the strangest thing I've seen but a first." 

Again, Kohle was surprised at how calm and even she was. What can I say, my girlfriend is a badass. 

"That's why, psionic connection." He turned to me, looking at me nearly level, though I might have had an inch on him. Outside of combat boots. And about 100lbs less. "And you incinerated the two by the registers? How? Molotov? Gas from stovetop?"

My time to shine. "No, I cast a fireball at them. I'm a wizard. Did 3d6 of fire damage." 

And there was the 'loonie' look again, though I swear I heard snort from Murph as she facepalmed. 

". . . Right. Ma'am, could you go over what happened here? How are you two not unconscious like everyone else?" He paused, then opened his mouth to ask another question when we all heard the sound of the alien weapons firing. Above us. I looked over to the door to find the sniper missing. Huh, she moved quietly.

"X-Rays spotted. Three, Rooftop." calmly came over the radio on Kohle's shoulder, as we moved out the door frame into the parking lot. Those green bolts of energy flew off the roof and impacted property around the lot. A few pistol rounds were fired, but the green bolts were not intimidated. 

I heard Kohle curse quietly under his breath, and triggered his radio. "Converge on rooftop, try and flank them. Zero, what are they? Sectoids?"

As Kohle rallied his squad, I decided to live up to the chauvinistic knight-in-shining armor tendencies that Murph always accuses me of. With an idle whirl of my blasting rod and shake of my shield bracelet, I started running towards the building, tracing back the fire. 5 ft before I ran straight into the wall, I pointed my blasting rod down and yelled " FORZARE! "

It was a trick I came up with practicing PARKOUR! In the tunnels under Demonreach, with Newton letting me cheat. 

The blast of force left a fist sized crater in the asphalt, but instead of dissipating the equal and opposite force in to the world around me as I usually did, I kept it. Shooting me up 15 ft to land on the roof. I didn’t stagger on the landing, I took tactical hops to confuse the enemy. 

My aim was good and I landed close to the pinned sniper, getting a better look at her now. She was svelte, not skinny but wiry. The light blue hair was a bit of a shock on her albino pale face. Her pistol had started moving towards me before stopping as recognition dawned on her face. At least I think it did. There wasn't much facial expression there to work with in the first place. Not fear or anything you'd expect from someone pinned down by alien fire. 

With two of my giant steps I had moved up to her as she took cover behind the giant AC unit on to of the BK. My left arm snapped up and as I fed will and power into my bracelet, and a half dome of blue light appeared in front of me. 

Securing the location, my eyes went to the attackers, and widened. There were three men. At least at first glance, but something was Wrong with them. Proportions were off, arms and legs to long. Identical face and body, another point on the weirdness chart. I'm going to need new charts at this rate. Matching suits and sunglasses, at night. So unless they were trying and failing at a Blues Brothers impersonation, I'm going with they shopped at Goons'R'Us. Then I went to their weapons. It was the same purplish metal with glowing green highlights as the aliens downstairs, but pistol shaped instead of a wrist blaster

They weren't visibly fazed by my appearance and trained their fire on me as I was apparently out in the open. I poured power into my shield as I realized I had taken fire off the woman to only take it myself. 

Before I could berate myself further for pulling a Leroy as Billy would put it in Arcanos, the first ball hit. My shield felt like it was getting hit by a baseball thrown by a major league pitcher. Compared to bullets and such that's not much kinetic energy. I was surprised at how little I felt and I almost over balanced as I had leaned into the shield to absorb the momentum. Half a second after that, the heat of the ball started sinking in, even through all the thermal protections I had built into my shield bracelets since the 'Vampire with a Flamethrower' incident.

As two more of the great balls of fire missed me and went off into the night to raise property insurance costs, I muttered " Infriga Defendarius" and let a small portion of Winter into the spell. As my breath turned frosty on the midsummer night a coating of dense ice formed over my shield. The next ball that hit sizzled on impact, took a divot out of the ice, and some power to restore shields to 100%, but left me mostly none the worse for wear. The Mantle rose up inside me with a vengeance, more than I expected. Oh, sure, interrupting Date Night with Murphy would have pissed it off only a little less than it pissed me off but the only things the mantle had reacted to so strongly before had been. . . Outsiders. 

Oh Crap.

While I drew fire and contemplated things, the sniper took offense. Zero, I guess, assuming that was a call sign or nickname, took aim with her pistol. That giant rifle was a few feet away from her, almost melted in two. One of the hostiles took a round and ducked behind the grill exhaust hood with a hiss. 

The boom of a shotgun announced the other pairs accent to the roof as the panel was 'unlocked' and they got out on the side of the roof towards our right. We now had 4 to 3 and flanked on one side. 

With the fire diminished as one swiveled to lay into the new arrivals, I lifted my blasting rod to join the attack. And hesitated. 

These were thinking living beings, not the near animals downstairs. They didn't act like Outsiders, but the Mantle responded like they were. They were possibly life from another world? Did they have souls? Was I about to Murder a thinking, changing, sentient being of reality?

"Oh, empty night. I hope I don't regret this." I muttered to myself before re-tighttening my grip on the rod and letting my will pour through it. 

" FORZARE!" I cried releasing a wave of force that knocked down all three aliens and sheared the exhaust duct off the roof and down into the parking lot. 

The shotgun roared again taking advantage of the opportunity, and a cloud of black and green erupted from the new corpse. The second wounded alien had been clipped by the exhaust duct it had taken cover behind and was splayed out in the open. Three quick pops from the pistol of the sniper next to me ended that one, releasing a smaller cloud. 

That left one, who was maybe 20 ft after the blast of force. 

"This is really stupid plan you know right?", I asked myself, before answering. "But I have to Know." 

I started to sprint. The last alien/man moved more flexibly that one of Thomas's succubus sisters could, and went from his back to his feet. He raised his pistol at the charging wizard. Let's hope this works. 

" Hexus " blurted out of my mouth along with a good chunk of will. I could kill a copier at 50 paces without putting more than a wisp of energy into a hex. I put enough to take out every electronic in a small office building. The gun smoked, then exploded with the force of a large firecracker, knocking the alien off balance again. Score! I may have felt some impacts on my spell worked leather as I was only 10ft away at this moment. 

At which point I was there. Alien Vs. Wizard, prize fight of the century, going down on top of a trashed Burger King in downtown Chicago, 9 PM Central. I love my life, you never know what weird shit is going to happen. 

It ended so fast most boxing fans would be asking for a refund. I showed ET the other reason I carry my blasting rod. By hitting its head like I was trying get a home run. It turned more into a line drive but I got pretty good distance.

"Welcome to Earf'", I quoted as I stepped up to the dazed alien. The glasses had been knocked off, and suit disheveled as it had tumbled along the tarred roof. Revealing that the pale skin turned to green scales below the collar, and its yellow reptilian eyes. Huh. Score another one for the conspiracy theorists. Guess I need to invest in tinfoil.

Now or never, I stepped on its chest to hold it down before doing something Very Stupid. Not the stupidest, but it would turn out to be Top 10 material. 

I stared into its eyes, it looked back into mine, and the Sougaze started.

  
  
  


I had come out of the Matrix. That's the only way I can describe it. Miles of tubes filled with glowing liquids, almost all looked to had a body inside it. The view shifted to look to the left and right. On my left was another of the reptilian men. No clothes on it, revealing scales everywhere but it's head and hands. And scars. So many scars. Frankenstein's monster had nothing on this poor creature. Even as I watched, Things moved in the murky liquid, organic or mechanical I couldn't tell. They were cutting up, grafting, changing it. Its eyes were open and moving. Oh, empty night, it was awake. Paralyzed, but awake. They felt everything. 

The view shifted the other way. This one looked like a giant human sized snake with arms and a hooded head. As I watched, its tail was cut down the middle to create two strips of flesh, the spine and bones removed. Even these were then cut further for metal rods to be inserted. Legs. They were giving it legs.

Hell's bell's, I wanted to vomit.

A voice spoke, delicate, feminine, but with the hiss of Cassius snakeboy himself. Raw emotion came across. It was happy, at peace, knowing it would have vengeance in telling its tale.

" Thissss is our racsse now. Pleasssse. Releassse ussss. Sssave Usss. Kill ussss all. Free ussss. Sssave your world. Lessst you become toolsss like usss ."

And as soon as the voice faded away into eternal peace, it somehow got worse. 

There was another mind in this Soulgaze. There was Another Mind in this Soulgaze. It was what had been controlling this poor assembly line slave. I felt more than saw purple tendrils of energy move towards my mind. A face, no a helmet, metallic and angular, with a red robe below it. Somehow I could feel it was interested in me like a troubled kid might a small animal. An ethereal raspy voice said, " Interesting, this one holds great promise. We must study it ."

A four fingered blueish grey skinned hand waved at me lazily, followed by a violent purple tendril striking towards my mind's eye. With a mental "oh shit", I put up all the mental defenses I could in that second, but as it hit a wave of pain lanced through me. 

And then glorious blackness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued weekly for now


	3. Unknown Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> XO Bradford's no good horrible day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to write so understandable to people who have not played the game. Includes Enemy Within, nods to XCOM2, and is Post Skin Game. Spoilers galore.
> 
> All copyrighted material is owned by Jim Butcher and Firaxis Games, or their respective owners. Characters from other content will be used for known personalities/visuals and lolz. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, protected by satire, or with their permission. I make no profit except internet points and a good feeling. Please criticize and help me get better. This is my first Fic. Period. Wish me luck.
> 
> Thank you to the Beta’s who made this possible/readable: Dresden22, Ellfangor8, and Leahm_Grove. I am in your debt. I owe each of you a Favor.

Central Officer John Bradford, XO to the entire XCOM project, second only to the Commander himself, was worried as he paced by the hologlobe bathed in its blue glow. 

By all accounts, he should have been ecstatic. A flawless mission, no XCOM casualties, 8 X-Rays dead. Hell, they had barely used any munitions, just 2 shotgun shells and two clips of pistol rounds. 

The two civilians in the AO threw a wrench in it. They raised too many questions. 

One: Why were they still awake when the Skyranger landed? Every other time over the past few weeks the aliens had attempted an abduction, all the saved civilians were unconscious and didn't wake up for 16 hours afterwards. 

Two: HOW had 2 civilians - with only a pistol and a stick - defeated five sectoids by themselves and helped take out three more Thin Men while saving Corporal Ayanami in the process?

By all records supplied by FBI and NSA support, the former CPD lieutenant was definitely a decent combat veteran and could hold her own. Multiple marksmanship records and martial arts trophies, as well as numerous accounts of bravery and excellence under fire. Been through more fire fights than most soldiers and even had a bomb blow up her car. She appeared to live in a action movie.

Bradford would have tried to recruit her at that point, until it seemed her life went downhill. Following going MIA for 24 hours during a series of attacks on a convention, in response, she was demoted to Detective Sergeant. Following that demotion, she was forcibly retired a few years later after a major terrorist incident; one building blown up and the local FBI office raided. After her 'retirement', and subsequent reported murder of her friend, a mister Harry Dresden, she went half off the grid and had been seen working with known associates of a local crime lord. Good cop gone bad sadly, happened too often, Bradford thought. Hunting monsters and becoming monsters, tale as old as time. 

That led into the other civilian, who raised even more questions and confusion. Bradford honestly didn't know what to make of him.

The FBI folder on him was bigger than most crime lords. Foster child after the death of his father, mother died during childbirth. Bounced from home to home until he was with one Justin Demourne. Settled there for a few years into his mid-teens until it burned down with Justin and another foster child inside. Picked up and raised by a complete stranger from two states over after that. Seemed to shape up as no incidents after that for almost a decade. Next files showed him in Chicago getting a PI license, working with local CPD as a consultant on. . . the 'Occult and Paranormal'. After that, the warrants, arrests, interest by the FBI. Events culminated in the terrorist bombing of his office building, assault on the FBI building he 'happened' to be in, and 24 hours later appeared to have been assassinated in Chicago harbor. Only to reappear a year later. Not a mix up with police, but was called in and actually showed up for jury duty of all things.

That background was enough to question Dresden's credibility as a civilian and not a criminal. Add on top of it this wizard nonsense. 

Claiming to have burned two sectoids to death with magic. And yet. . . Lieutenant Kohle had verified thrice in the on-air debrief he had jumped from the parking lot onto the roof. Corporal Ayanami, who was probably the calmest and most unflappable person Bradford had met, reported he had used some kind of shield to protect himself and her, then proceed to knock over all three Thin Men at once with a "shout straight out of Skyrim" as SPC Okajima claimed. Worse, preventing it from being dismissed as a "trick of the eyes in combat", there was even cross confirmation by Lt. Kohle and the other two squad members on the scenes they had observed.

Before charging the last Thin Man, somehow surviving due to the plasma pistol malfunctioning at the impossibly  _ perfect  _ time, knocking said thin man on its ass again with his stick and planting his boot on it. Before it promptly commited suicide, engulfing him in a cloud of its toxin, knocking Dresden out with the massive dose. Thankfully, SPC Okajima had used his medkit to stabilize the man. 

The body cam footage didn't answer many questions, being too blurry and staticky for some reason. He was going to have to talk to Shen to make sure that didn't happen again. Maybe the aliens were starting to deploy some ECM?

It had disappeared with the last hostiles death.

Which then led to the Third main question Bradford had as he observed the Skyrangers flight path back to base.

Three: Why had the Commander, upon giving prelim report to the Directors, insisted that the civilians be 'escorted' back to XCOM HQ for medical care and debrief? Then allowed Ms. Murphy to grab a few items out her car when she asked?

That led to the minor questions of why said items included a prepared backpack, a carved wooden skull, a large wooden staff, and an ornate pair of handcuffs that she slapped on Dresden as soon as he was on a stretcher. (Took them 5 minutes to combine two stretchers to make one long enough for the man to fit on too.) When asked why by the incredulous lieutenant and snickering corporal [Revy], she responded "Wouldn't want your fancy plane to crash and I dont think a circle would work for that. Sorry Harry." 

Bradford's head ached. 

It didn't help that the random mission name generator had named the Op "Royal Inferno" 

The snickers among the bridge staff would not stop unless he looked at them. Which allowed the ones on the opposite side of the room to chuckle instead. 

_____

Lieutenant "Dutch" Kohle was calm and collected on the outside as he observed his squad and their "guests". Inside he was like piano wire. 

In his almost 20 years as special forces for South African military and as a mercenary throughout Africa and the Middle East, Dutch had seen too many things. Suicide vests, IEDs, race riots, warlords, child soldiers, bombs on hostages, drugged up villages, poachers, drug runners, even one band trying to smuggle uranium into the middle east. The two most disturbing, had been a warlord that drugged up his child soldiers, and had them rape their mothers and sisters to make them "men"; the other had been doing security during an Ebola outbreak. That had been relatively peaceful but Disturbing with the effects of the disease on a person. 

The first time he had fought the aliens had been a shock that his years of emotional control allowed him to press on through, saving his life and Revy's that day. A month later he was getting used to it. Advanced technology didn't always mean more civilized, in his experience. He had fought humans that raided and abducted their own to enslave, now he was fighting aliens who were doing the same thing. 

Today had been another paradigm shift. That civilian had done things, things that only shamans of the jungle tribes would have claimed to be able to do. Jump like a lion, run as fast as a cheetah, hold his ground like a Cape buffalo. 

Dresden had claimed to be a wizard. "Lunatic” or “druggie" was how he had written the man off with that claim. 

Dutch didn't know how to act around the man now. 

Revy was sitting across from him next to Rock, whispering to him. If he knew Revy, and Dutch definitely did, she was whispering him plans for how to blow off the post battles high in some private corner of the base. The blush on the man's face and its confusion between fear and a smile confirmed it. 

Zero was sitting on the same side of the sky ranger, back straight like she was at attention as usual. Always carried herself like she was on duty. Their JSDF sniper was quiet and her face didn't usually show much emotion which made it all the more obvious her subtle staring in wonder and confusion at the man on the cot in the middle of the troop bay. The other civilian, the cop, was sitting opposite Zero, also staring at the man but with concern in her eyes and almost guilt? The wooden skull with all its intricate carving and runes sat on her lap. Creepy, and why the hell had she insisted on bringing it? It could be valuable with how intricate the work was, but then why bring it to a fast food restaurant?

Everytime Dutch looked away, he would swear a green light sparked up in the eye sockets but disappeared before he looked back. 

The pilots voice came over the intercom, "We are 5 mikes out from Base, so we ask you to please return your seats to an upright position and secure your trays. Also remember to check your overhead compartment. Thank you flying with ET Express Airlines today!".

The announcement seemed to 'wake' Murphy up from her vigil over the man, as she looked around surprised at her situation. The only other time she had responded mid-flight was to try and turn on her cellphone. Dutch wasn't sure why it was off in the first place, but asked her politely but sternly to keep it off. 

"Where are we? It's only been 30 minutes. Rock Island?" She asked, not so subtly probing for information. 

"XCOM HQ, and we are a little farther away than that." Dutch responded. 

"You got medical teams standing by that know how to treat that toxin, right?" Basically the only reason she had acquiesced to their 'request' that she and Dresden come with them after she had finally gotten on the roof, only to see the last 'man' blow up in his face. 

"Yes ma'am, they are meeting us as we disembark."

"Good. . . You never answered the question Lieutenant." 

"I know ma'am"

At that moment, they could feel the craft slow down and come to a stop. 

"That was a smooth landing, didn't even feel us touch ground." Murphy commented, before Revy corrected her.

"Oh no, we got some sweet tech. We are just hovering at the moment before they open the doors to let us in."

Murphys stunned expression was answer enough. Then she felt like she was going down an elevator. Pulled back up at the last second and thumped onto solid ground. 

The rear gate lowered to first reveal stone walls, then metal floors and facilities. Two groups started swarming towards the aircraft. One looked like a group off a military flight line, bringing hoses and reels to refuel and resupply the craft. The other an obvious medical team. 

Murphy breathed out a sigh of relief at that.

Lastly was a man in a semi formal uniform, with a patch on his breast that read "Bradford". 

"Lieutenant Murphy, welcome to XCOM. Follow me and we’ll get Mr. Dresden taken care of. You two are our guests while we treat him and then debrief the both of you. After that and some NDA's you will be free to go." Bradford announced, as he had been told explicitly to tell her by the Directors, via the Commander.

A quick glance around revealed they were definitely underground, in a big cavern that held multiple fighter jets and other "Skyrangers" as the soldiers had called it. The hole at the top of the domed roof had a metal circular gate closing over it, and the last view of the stars above were shut away as she watched.

"Lead the way" Murphy replied, following the rapidly moving medical team into the stone and metal halls. 


	4. Debrief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hangovers are a painful reminder of the shenanigans that went on the previous night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to write so understandable to people who have not played the game. Includes Enemy Within, nods to XCOM2, and is Post Skin Game. Spoilers galore.
> 
> All copyrighted material is owned by Jim Butcher and Firaxis Games, or their respective owners. Characters from other content will be used for known personalities/visuals and lolz. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, protected by satire, or with their permission. I make no profit except internet points and a good feeling. Please criticize and help me get better. This is my first Fic. Period. Wish me luck.
> 
> Thank you to the Beta’s who made this possible/readable: Dresden22, Ellfangor8, and Leahm_Grove. I am in your debt. I owe each of you a Favor.

Owww. How much did I drink last night? I don't even remember drinking. It was date night, we saw a movie with Bonnie in that little theater we found that I wouldn't fry.

“Inside Out” I think it was called. Oh, Bonnie loved it, especially found the whole spirit in the 'head' symmetry hilarious. Afterwards she asked me and "Aunty Karri" which of the 5 emotions ruled in our mortal heads. Murph had given an adorable blush at the title, and answered, "I think it's Anger for both of us, but like in the movie we found how to channel it. We both are driven by anger at injustice and cruelty."

Bonnie had taken that into her "Spirit of Intellect" mind and filed it all away. After that it was dinner time, my turn to pick, so I took us to the best place. Before we went in, Bonnie had innocently asked " Papa, can I watch you two 'have fun' after dates, like Uncle Bob told me you two have? I want to learn and have fun with you two!". Oh, I was going to have to kill him for corrupting my youngest daughter. True, she wasn't human or mortal, but she was still My Daughter. 

We ordered and sat down, me staying far away from the registers so they didn't bug out. 

And that was it. My head was still pounding, I didn't want to open my eyes at all.

"Harry, wake up" I heard Murphy's gentle voice say to me.

I attempted to grumble out "Five more minutes, if you would be so kind. I'll even throw in that thing you love with my tongue and your -"

"Harry Dresden, Wake Up" she stated precisely, each word sounding like a gunshot to my aching head. The fact she used two words of my Name sharply and perfectly enunciated gave me an adrenaline rush and woke me up like I had slugged a Big Gulp of Espresso. 

My eyes snapped open to see her face above me. Concern was the biggest thing on it, followed by a hint of a blush at my offer. 

"I'm up." I tried to say, but my throat and lungs felt like I had smoked a couple packs a day for 40 years. Oww.

"What do you remember? Is it safe to take off the cuffs?" 

Oh hell's bells, she had used the Cuffs. I had given her a pair of fae made anti-wizard cuffs to contain me if the Mantle went rampant. I trusted her. 

One of the two was off me. I knew because I was awake, would still be out from the pain if both were still on. I tried to wiggle my toes. No feeling. Yep the other was still on me.

"Date Night" I coughed out. "I'm in control, just a hell of a lot of pain. What did I do? Is anyone hurt?", panic rising in my voice. What happened that made her use the Cuffs? What had I done?

"Okay, I'm taking it off now." She said, before reaching down to my right hand and fiddling with it. As the latch released the room dropped about 20 degrees and I was covered in an inch of ice. Oww.

I could feel my toes again, and the rest of my aching body. Venom, the Mantle helpfully told my mind. 

I sat up, breaking through the ice like it was tissue paper. I took several deep breaths, mist coming out the first few times before disappearing. With the mist, went the pain in my chest, and then the rest of my body. Okay, score one for the Mantle. 

After letting my heart and breath settle, I took off my duster and handed it to her so she could stay warm in the now frosty room. Murphy gratefully accepted it, before continuing through chattering teeth, "Dresden, what do you remember?"

"The movie and then dinner. After that only some nightmare while I was out. What did the mantle do? How did it take control? And where are we?" I asked, realizing this wasn't Murphy's house, nor my aka Molly's apartment aka the Winter Court Apartment in Chicago. It was a metal room, like we were aboard a ship. Didn't feel any movement of the waves, but big enough ship on calm seas you wouldn't feel much. I could feel air flow from vents along with the distant thrumming of engines/machinery and other cacophonous sounds of life. Ship then. Container ship maybe, cruise ship would have more "window dressing" for the passengers. 

"Harry. . ." Murphy said softly through now stable teeth, knocking me out of my gawking at the room. "What happened in your nightmare?" 

"Alien attack and then a scene out of the matrix, the one when Neo wakes up, but more screwed up. Then you woke me up." She was playing for time, taking this slow. Why? What had I done? What had the mantle done? I was honestly scared right then that I had murdered someone, civilian or even a friend.

"Harry, that happened. I know it was you and not the Mantle in control. Mantle wouldn't have been stupid enough to soulgaze an alien."

I blew out a long breath at that. The nightmare had been Real. And that meant the soulgaze was too. I fell in a lurch trying and failing to make it to the trash can that was thankfully present, meaning only half of my vomited Whopper with Cheese made it into the trash can. 

Murph, bless her soul, was immediately at my back rubbing it as I reached some more at the vision the poor . . . Damn, it hadn't even known the name of its species. Fine, that the poor snake alien had showed me. Snalien? Alienke? Snakien? Snakien. 

A few minutes passed with more globs of vomit and mucus being coughed out of my mouth Into the can. Murphy asked gently "Harry, what did you see?" 

So I told her. 

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" she muttered in shock. "Mass produced clone slave army. What the hell. And they mutilate them like that?" 

I grabbed my staff off of the cot where it had been placed with my long arms, and used it to help me rise back up. 

"Yep. The Snakiens are just tools, not people or even living things to the leaders. Hell, you and I would have more empathy for a toaster that always burned the toast. I think the aliens that are in control was the one with that helmet and Power."

"Snakien?" 

"They didn't know the name of their species, and their original form is a giant snake with arms. Snakien. Where are we Murph? And where is Bonnie?" I asked panic rising again. I searched around for my daughters skull, (man that's still a weird thought) and relaxed seeing in on the other cot looking over at us, somehow with a worried expression on her bone face. 

"I'm here papa. I'm okay, aunty Karri kept me safe after she got me from the car. I made sure not to reveal myself like you instructed. I was scared for you papa."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding at her soft voice with its scottish lilt. 

“Thank goodness” and gave her a peck on the top of the skull. What? She's my daughter.

“And thank you Karrin.” I said as I gave her a peck on the cheek. 

She looked down guiltily.

"XCOM HQ. After you were knocked out by the venom cloud and mental trauma, they said they had the anti-venom and medics who knew how to treat it. Didn't want you to crash their nice jet mid flight while you were out, so I had to put the cuffs on you." Her voice got quieter and I could hear a guilty note in it. "I'm sorry Harry, it was the only thing I could think of. I'm sorry I put you in that much pain. I know how much Iron hurts you with the Mantle." 

"I understand Karrin. You did the right thing." I responded softly and hugged her. I loved that I could do that now any time. She was cute in my way too big duster, made her look so small and adorable. Even dating though, she would still kill me if she knew I was thinking that. 

I pulled back slightly, cleared my throat, and asked, "so the Men in Black have us in custody. Where is the HQ? Carrier at sea? Big innocuous cargo ship? NYC Tunnel Ventilation Building?"

"We are underground, couple hundred feet. Dont know where beyond that. Flight was only a half hour. Landed in an underground hangar and the went through tunnels to a medical area that looked pretty sci-fi. They gave you an injection of anti-venom and then some other stuff. Tried to take some blood work but I stopped them without your consent. They didn't push, thankfully. Then to this room to recover. Door is locked, already checked. Probably bugged too." Murph rattled off. Bonnie added in, “Our flight was 33 minutes, 24 seconds from take off to Horizontal stop above landing. Sun rise occurred 23 minutes ago, and it has been a 9 hours and 11 minutes from when we left chicago. This puts us at approximately -105 degrees longitude.” I could hear her smug little smirk and pride at her skills. Cheating spirit of intellect.

Still, that was a lot of information to take in. Nixed the ship theory pretty solidly unless they floated a mountain for kicks. 

"So big brother is listening to us? Makes sense." 

I raised my voice and directed it to the ceiling. "I'd like to discuss my rights with Agent K" 

When there was no response for a minute besides a facepalm from Murphy and a soft giggle from Bonnie, I asked again. "Let me to talk to Agent J then please"

"Harry, shut up. Stop trying to provoke the big secret group of soldiers." Murphy growled in frustration, though I could tell she was trying not to laugh. Bonnie wasn't even trying to resist. 

Then Murphy’s face sobered. "That really happened.” We all paused for a few minutes processing that paradigm shift.

She continued, “We are not Alone. Damn, you'd think the crazy stuff I've seen with you would take the cake but, aliens?"

"Mind controlled, mass-cloned, slave army alien invaders. Almost makes Nicodemus or the Naagaloshi seem benevolent."

She shivered in memory of him and the near loss of  _ Fidelacchius _ . I shivered at the memory of Seeing the Naagloshii. 

We sat down as one on the cot. 

"What do you think we should do? Alien invaders or not, they aren’t going to believe us or you. They probably think we’ve been speaking in code. And when we won’t tell them the 'Truth', they are going to get suspicious."

There really was no question in my mind. I'd always lived my life in the open, though most thought I was a crackpot. I hate those that toyed with and used others without a care. Then there was the giant list of Evil that the alien overlords practiced. 

"There were children in that Burger King.” I stated rising up.

“Children they were ready to abduct, to probably be dissected and experiment on.”

A muttered Ventas Servitas and a small controlled lance of wind pulled my staff to my left hand. Dramatic moments require dramatic actions.

“Karrin Murphy,” I said precisely with a touch of my power leaking through and probably causing her spine to tingle. “You've known me for many years, seen me throw down against figurative and literal gods. I started a war over one life. I ended a race over one child. What do you think I'm going to do?”

Her face was lit up with the light coming off my staff, making her look positively angelic. The memory of Seeing her after taking the spiritual barbed wire off poor old Malone, in her dirty battle stained toga, an avenging angel with a badge. It was awestruck, which turned to a knowing smirk. In my head, I could already hear the sound of her gun cocking and saying, "Where to Dresden?". God I love this woman.

"Why did I even ask, Mr. 'I insult gods for breakfast'" she responded flippantly but with a smile on her face.

“We are going to help stop these xeno-nazi assholes, whether these MiB wannabees like it or not. And I'm going to sound the alarm with Winter, Vadderung, the Archive, the White Council, the Forest People, and anyone else who'll listen. Hell, the White Court probably would help out to ‘protect the Herd’.”

As I finished my rant, in a moment of perfect timing, as the door unlocked. I turned to the now opening door and the two armed soldiers in blue uniforms framed it, and finished with “Now then, Take me to your Leader.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, wife just got diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and the joys of third shift in top of that.
> 
> P.s. an internet cookie to the reader who guesses the location of XCOM HQ.
> 
> Edit: no update this week. Will be every two weeks from here on as I've caught up to what I had prewritten and am waiting on Beta's feed back. If interested in joining as a beta, let me know in a comment and I'll reach out.


	5. Unexpected Guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with unexpected guests, and being a hospitable host.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will try to write so understandable to people who have not played the game. Includes Enemy Within, nods to XCOM2, and is Post Skin Game. Spoilers galore. 
> 
> All copyrighted material is owned by Jim Butcher and Firaxis Games, or their respective owners. Characters from other content will be used for known personalities/visuals and lolz. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, protected by satire, or with their permission. I make no profit except internet points and a good feeling. Please criticize and help me get better. This is my first Fic. Period. Wish me luck. 
> 
> Thank you to the Beta who made this possible/readable, Dresden22; and the one who inspired me to start this, BirdOfHermes. I am in your debt. I owe each of you a Favor.

Bradford’s headache redoubled as he opened the door to his quarters after only a few hours of "sleep" aka paperwork plus cat naps to a nigh vibrating Dr Vahlen. 

Before she could even open her mouth, he cut her off with a stern "No, you may not dissect him. As far as we can tell without further inspection, he is human. If you are that desperate for samples, ask him after their intero- eh hem, debriefing." 

Interrogations had taken on a whole new meaning with the aliens, using everything from chemical analysis, MRI's, EEG's, optical pattern recognition analysis, among many other things he honestly didn't understand, but the eggheads led by Dr Vahlen did. Somehow, the Doc and her compatriots were able to make sense of it all and turn it into actual research, which the incredible Dr Shen and his engineers could then turn into nice toys for all the good boys and girls in the barracks. 

One recruit had already been talked to for playing "Here comes Santa Claus" when Shen had walked in. 

He started walking to intero- debrief, and she followed. Him in his usual dark green sweater with its shoulder reinforcements and patches, Dr Vahlen in her constant white lab coat with green striped sleeves over a XCOM 'civilian' turtleneck. It was always a bit on the chilly side at their depth underground, with the insulating rock and constant airflow from banks of air filters and other NBC protection equipment treating the air. 

Back to the subject at hand, who was slowly cooling down from her manic episode, he asked a question that he knew the answer would not understandable. 

"Why do you want to dissect them?"

"Thatmanisgivingoffneutrinos." She blurted out in a rush, her mild German accent still audible in the blurred English.

Bradford paused waiting for her to continue the technobabble, but surprisingly none came. Cue the second question with a confusing answer.

"Why is him giving off 'nutinos' important enough to kill him?"

"Neutrinos, and it's important because they are produced in matter/antimatter reactions and more importantly in Elerium bombardment reactions. He has been giving off a great deal of energy while awake and in interrogation. The equivalent to approximately 4.53 kilos of Elerium, in similar wavelengths outside of the visible spectrum. I think he is an advanced alien infiltration unit"

That made Bradford trip over air and stop in place in the hall to stare at the good doctor. 

A small part of him was surprised he could understand the answer. A bigger part of him was in shock at the answer itself.

Swearing under his breath was, followed by a call on his radio for extra security teams down to interrogation, before picking up his walking pace.

"Explain." He prompted in a serious tone through gritted teeth.

Her eyes lit up in only the way a mad scientist can before they monologue. 

"Well, I was initially fascinated by the events that the soldiers on the ground told. The footage was disappointingly low quality however, so I had little first hand evidence to use. The readings he gave off in flight and once he was on the base were baseline normal if a little low for an adult male. However, once he was awakened by his companion, there was an energy surge that shorted out all of our bugs in their room. I believe this is intended to prevent espionage. There is also evidence of water damage on the floor, but with no evidence of how the water got there. 

The first notifications I received were after he and his companion were taken to be debriefed, when sensitive systems along their path started having malfunctions due to electromagnetic interference. I had gotten in and was observing the systems by the point in time when they were separated. There was a spike in EM radiation at that moment and according to the security personnel at that same point he had an upset look on his face before calming himself down. 

Following this, I set up instruments around the two rooms to figure out the pattern and gain more information for research."

At this point they had reached the elevator, with a squad of security personnel following in them, and two more converging from other routes.

"Please continue, doctor." Bradford asked, trying to get all the Intel he could on the adversary in their own base. 

"The woman gave off no emissions or readings to indicate anything more than a sleep deprived and frustrated human. The base coffee was to her liking however and that raised her mood. He was similarly behaved, with his obvious rising frustration having a direct correlation with his emission output. At least what I could measure, for some reason the more sensitive equipment was also the most susceptible to malfunctioning and failure. I will have to have Dr Shen strip them down to identify exactly why but my hypothesis is that he is giving off energy we can not even detect fully that is interfering with our equipment in an inverse relationship."

"That doesn't help much, but I'll take it we can ignore the woman primarily." Bradford responded, detailing two squads outside of Dresden's room with the other continuing to the next room with Ms Murphy in it. 

He pulled his side arm from its holster, and chambered a round. Shock and awe was probably their best bet in the close quarters of the room. 

He relayed hand signals to the squads with him, stacking up on the door. Hand reaching for the door handle, to be interrupted by a ping on his com device. 

Bradford spoke into his mic, "Ah, Commander. I apologize for not having time to brief you, but we've gotten actionable Intel from Dr Vahlen that one of our 'guests' is not what we thought he was. We are about to move in and neutralize"

The two squads paused, waiting on their XO to give the order and lead the charge against the infiltrator.

  
  
  


Only for a minute to pass and nothing happen except for a rising blush on the XO's face. 

Mouth opening and closing like a gasping fish, Bradford took almost another minute to respond with a weak "but Sir?!"

"Yes sir"

"I understand sir"

"Yes sir"

"One of the Directors, sir?"

"Thank you sir"

"Very well sir, understood."

Bradfird sighed, massaging his forehead with his left hand. Working out some mental knots, he then released the magazine and cocked his pistol, spitting out the unspent bullet, and lazily caught it mid air.

Some unnamed security personnel muttered a "damn" at the sight. 

While loading the bullet back into the clip and reinserting the magazine, Bradford addressed the present squad. "New orders, standby weapons at hand, normal RoE. Do not, I repeat, do not fire unless attacked or ordered to by myself or the Commander, who is patching in from mission control as we speak. Understood?"

A crisp "yes sir" rebounded off the metal walls. 

The two squads then took up relaxed but alert positions around the door in the hallway. 

'Now to meet this new "known potential ally" according to one of the Directors'

Reminding himself the code phrase he was given, Bradford entered the dark observation room. "How's the intero- debrief going? What have they been saying?"

The former Army MP in charge, looked up from his notes at the interrupter. Once realizing who it was, scrambled to attention before his XO. "At ease, lieutenant" Bradford interrupted once again. 

The lieutenant sat back down, and turned back to his notes and the room beyond the one way mirror. 

"Sir, we've had them in interro- Debrief for almost 6 hours. We've gone over their stories and background at least a dozen times. They obviously memorized it as the stories line up too well despite the obvious lies and lunacy. They are both independently verifying each others story, including nonsense like he's a wizard, killed two sectoids with a fireball, punched out a thin man. 

Even on background questions they are sounding crazy. They met 'killing a troll on a bridge', 'He died from a sniper round center mass' but is alive in front of us, they've seen and fought 'fairies, fallen angels, and vampires', and hell, he claims to be friends with a Bigfoot. With all due respect sir, why did you bring these two lunatics inside HQ and not to a mental hospital?"

Bradford had already asked himself the same question a couple times. He answered the Lieutenant with the same answer he gave himself. "Above my pay grade Lieutenant, above my paygrade." Which made the lieutenants eyes bug out slightly at the implication. 

"Has Dresden exhibited any hostile or inhuman actions or behaviors?" 

The second part of Bradford's question caused the Lieutenant to raise an eyebrow before remembering what command he was with. Clearing his throat and double checking his notes, he responded, "No Sir. Showing signs of frustration but unusually calm considering the situation, almost like he's been through this before. Other than that, the most 'inhuman' thing was how much cream and sugar he takes in his coffee, if it can still be considered coffee at that point."

"I see, thank you for the update."

Silence ensued as they observed the ex-LEO in the room with Dresden go over the events of the previous nights for what could have been the tenth or hundredth time 

The scene was broken by a knock on the door, with a steward from the officers mess of all places coming in at Bradford's acknowledge.

"Sir, the special request that the Commander ordered."

"Thank you corporal. That will be all. I'll take the tray from here."

With the tray transferred, Bradford moved out into the hall to the stares of the still present security personnel.

Opening the door to the debriefing room itself, Bradford announced his presence with a, "Good afternoon, I apologize for the delay. Let me introduce myself. I am Lt. Commander John Bradford of the XCOM project. Welcome to our Headquarters."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter reveals location of HQ, place your guesses now. 
> 
> Chapters will be posted every two weeks from now on.
> 
> Hope all the Americans had a good Thanksgiving. 
> 
> P.s. am looking for more betas, if anyone us interested, let me know in a comment.


End file.
